Lucy Lawless Joins The Evil Dead Series

With all of the amazing genre TV projects currently floating out there, it’s only a matter of time before actress Lucy Lawless completely takes over television. The Xena: The Warrior Princess star has most recently signed on for a role in Starz’s highly anticipated horror series Ash vs. Evil Dead. All is right with the world…except for all those Deadites, of course.

Lawless is set to play Ruby, described as a mysterious character who is “myopic in her quest to hunt down the source of the recent Evil outbreaks.” Of course, all signs point to Bruce Campbell’s Ash as the reason why everything has turned to shit, but we all know that Ash just can’t help being the only guy people can turn to for help in this situation. I mean, I guess he was involved with getting all that Evil unleashed, but he’s tried to make penance with that. Ruby just needs to watch Army of Darkness to see it.

Ash vs. Evil Dead will center on Ash begrudgingly working at a big department store when Deadites return to try to rid the world of goodness and stability (and people’s hands). He teams up with Pablo Simon Bolivar (Ray Santiago), an immigrant who immediately looks to Ash as his leader, and Kelly Maxwell (Dana Delorenzo), an emotionally imbalanced girl trying to leave her wild past behind. Ruby isn’t the only person who is blaming Ash for everything, either, as Jill Marie Jones will play Michigan State Trooper Amanda Fisher, who initially holds Ash responsible for the death of her partner before switching sides and helping Ash in his fight against the Deadites.

Lawless, who was previously seen on Starz during her time on Spartacus, previously worked with franchise creator Sam Raimi on Spider-Man and with executive producer Rob Tapert on Boogeyman. Her more recent small screen efforts have taken her from the dark mystery Top of the Lake to the joke-filled world of Parks and Recreation to the comical spy drama Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. She will soon be seen causing problems on WGN America’s Salem, and you can see her in action in the preview below.

With the first of hopefully many seasons, Ash vs. Evil Dead will go into production in New Zealand this spring, with Raimi set to get behind the camera for at least the first episode. Starz plans on bringing it to audiences everywhere in late 2015, so get your Halloween costumes ready.